Teachers aren’t the only educational leaders in short supply in Arizona. School district superintendents are, too.

About 47 of Arizona’s 225 public school districts, or about 20 percent, will have a new leader for the school year starting in August and more than half of them have no previous superintendent experience.

“This is a higher number of superintendent vacancies than we have had in the past five years,” said Dr. Debra Duvall, executive director of the Arizona School Administrators Association, who noted it’s not uncommon to have 30 superintendent vacancies.

“Of the 45 plus superintendent openings this spring, seven are still unfilled, 28 are filled by persons with no district superintendent experience (first year in the position) and the remaining are filled by persons moving from the position in one district to another,” said Duvall, a former Mesa Public Schools superintendent.